[ Philippine ] Government said that it would offer investors in July 2017 the PHP 12.55 billion Clark International Airport Expansion Project that will be the test for a ‘hybrid’ financing scheme that mixes official development assistance (ODA

13 July 2017

Clark International Airport (CRK) in Pampanga has long been positioned as a premier gateway to decongest Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board - led by President Rodrigo Duterte – has approved the national transport policy plus other infrastructure and other projects together worth some PHP 304.45 billion (about USD 6 billion). The list includes the Clark International Airport Expansion Project that will build an 82,600-m² terminal building capable of accommodating up to eight million passengers a year – almost double the current 4.2 million passenger capacity, and which should be completed by 2019. Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) CEO, Vivencio Dizon, said: “The Clark airport new terminal will be the first of the hybrid PPP model under the Duterte administration where the government builds it and then the private sector will maintain and operate.” He added that bidding both the construction and O&M contracts would be “this year” [2017]. The government, which has made infrastructure a priority, has said it will reduce reliance on PPP which it says takes too long to implement projects. Duterte has also recently complained of losing bidders stalling the progress of major projects they had targeted by securing court injunctions after questioning the bidding process. Meanwhile, Dizon said that the government would not wait for the construction of the airport to finish before bidding out the O&M contract, citing the need for the private operator to have inputs in the design and construction. Unsolicited proposals to expand the Clark airport have been rejected as the government decided it will pursue the project on its own. Dizon said that any such proposals had already been rejected since they were for the pure PPP models. The Filinvest Group and JG Summit Holdings had submitted a joint PHP 186.64 billion unsolicited proposal for the expansion and development of Clark Airport. GMR-Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., a joint venture (JV) of Megawide Construction Corp. and Bangalore-based airport operator GMR Infrastructure Ltd, also submitted a USD 5 billion proposal in 2016 to develop Clark Airport. #1052.OPS1